The Not so Perfect Valentine's Day
by Elspeth25
Summary: This fic is written for Valentine's Day. James and Lily celebrate their first Valentine's Day together after reading the Harry Potter books. It doesn't go as perfectly as James had planned. Oneshot.


Summary: This is a one shot written for Valentine's Day. After reading the Harry Potter books, Lily and James begin going out. This is there first date together at Hogsmeade, on Valentine's Day. James tried to make the day special, with somewhat disastrious results.

Author's Note: For the purposes of this fic, the year is 1976, instead of 1977, because that was when Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday. For those who are confused about Lily and James knowing about the HP books, I have a series written where Lily and the Marauders are sent the HP books and read them. Beth Potter is James' cousin, Sirius' girlfriend, and a character in the fic my sister is writing about how the future is changed due to the Marauders and Lily reading the books.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and related stuff. J.K. Rowling does. Happy Valentine's Day!

James looked frantically at his friends. "This is the first Valentine's Day I'm having with Lily! What do I do to make the day special?"

"It's a Hogsmeade weekend, isn't it?" asked Remus. "So just take her to Madam Puddifoot's or the Three Broomsticks and have a nice lunch. Then give her your gift and take a nice walk with her around Hogsmeade."

"Or you can just find someplace private and snog her like you've been doing for the past month and a half," said Sirius sarcastically. "You were late being with Remus on the last full moon because you were too busy snogging Lily."

"But Lily reminded me of it and I ran over to be with you guys right away!" protested James.

"Calm down, James," said Peter. "Just give Lily a nice gift, take her out lunch, and then find someplace private in Hogsmeade where you can snog her."

"But what do I get her?" demanded James. "For the past Valentine's Days, I've just been sending her those valentines that ask loudly if she'll go out with me!"

"You had no trouble getting her a suitable Christmas gift," pointed out Remus. "Or charming her while we read the Harry Potter books in the Room of Requirement."

"Yeah, you even conjured a bunch of flowers and said this really sappy poem that Lily liked," said Sirius. "It shouldn't be too much of a problem for you to make Valentine's Day special."

"But this is Valentine's Day!" shouted James. Madam Pince glared in his direction and James quickly lowered his voice. "I mean, I already gave her that necklace with the white lily for Christmas. What do I get her now? Matching earrings?"

"Maybe you should," said Remus. "Along with a box of chocolates and bouquet of flowers."

"Thanks, Moony!" exclaimed James. "You've saved my day. I'll order everything now and make a reservation for two at the Three Broomsticks."

"Madam Puddifoot's might be better," said Sirius, hiding a wicked smile. "Couples often go there, especially on Valentine's Day. It's decorated specially for Valentine's Day and girls really love it."

"I am not taking Lily there, Padfoot!" exclaimed James. "Remember _Order of the Phoenix_? Harry took Cho Chang there and it was a disaster! Furthermore, that place was described as having everything decorated with frills and bows and Harry was reminded of Umbridge's office. And Lily said that place was even too girly for her and that it reminded her of when Lockhart decorated the Great Hall on Valentine's Day in _Chamber of Secrets_."

Sirius looked disappointed as James stormed out of the library.

On Saturday, James was ready. He put on his dark red dress robes and met Lily in the common room, who was dressed in lovely dress robes of a pale green. Her vivid red hair had been done up in a an elegant knot with a few curls framing her face. A touch of sparkling pale green eyeshadow had been artfully applied to her eyelids, and she had also put on a hint of blush and light pink lipstick. On her neck she wore the lily necklace that James had given her for Chrismas. "Happy Valentine's Day, James," she said, smiling. "This is for you."

James took the package and opened it find a bronze knife with "James Potter and Lily Evans" engraved on it, with a lily next to Lily's name and a broom next to James' name.

"Thank you, Lily," said James, lowering his head to kiss Lily on the lips. He gathered Lily in his arms, but in the process dropped the knife, which fell on the hem of Lily's robes, tearing it. They pulled aprt and James looked down. "Oh no," he groaned. He picked up the knife, then took out his wand and said, "_Reparo._" Unfortunately, Sirius ran into James at that moment, causing James to stumble and slur the word, which widened the tear even more.

Lily sighed. "It's all right, James. I'll take care of this." She mended the rip, while James rounded on Sirius and told him off far running into him. Sirius quickly apoligized and ran out the common room to meet his date, Elizabeth Potter.

"I'm really sorry, Lily," said James when Sirius had left. "I didn't mean to drop your gift and tear the hem of your robes. And then make the tear worse when Sirius ran into me while I was trying to fic it."

"It's not your fault," smiled Lily. She tilted her head up and kissed James.

James blinked, then said, "_Orchideous!"_ A bouquet of assorted flowers appeared and he added it to the red roses he had bought earlier. "These are for you, my sweetest of Lilys. Though they are a poor showing compared to a wonderful and delightful flower like you."

Lily smiled and breathed in the scents of her bouquet. "Thank you, James. Is that all?"

"I have a wonderful day planned for the two of us," replied James. "Come with me to Hogsmeade."

The two of them left Hogwarts and went inside Hogsmeade. When they reached Honeydukes, James bought the largest box of chocolate he could find and presented it to Lily. "Rose are red, violets are blue, chocolate is sweet, but not as sweet as you."

Lily began laughing. "That was a terrible poem, but very sweet, James. No pun intended. Oh, I love you!"

"I love you, too," said James, then swept Lily up into his arms and kissed her. They came up a minute later, when they realized that they needed air and that everyone in Honeydukes could see them.

"Now come on," said James. "I've made reservations for us to have lunch at the Three Broomsticks. Sirius suggested Madam Puddifoot's, but I remembered what we read about our son taking Cho there."

"It's still a little early for lunch," pointed out Lily. "It's not even ten-thirty yet. Why don't we just go to Madam Puddifoot's anyway and have some coffee like Harry did with Cho? At least it won't be a fiasco for us like it was for them."

"But you said the place was too girly for you and reminded you of when Lockhart decorated the Great Hall!" protested James.

"I did, but I confess I have a curiousity to see if the place is as horrible as Harry said it was," responded Lily. "Please, James?"

James gave in and they headed over tot he tea shop. It was exactly like the description in the book, with everything decorated with frills and bows and a number of golden cherubs that were hovering over each of the small, circular tables, occasionally throwing pink confetti over the occupants. He made a disgusted face, while Lily cooed, "Actually, it is sort of cute. Though there are too much frills and bows. But otherwise it's cute."

"Er, yeah, it is cute," said James untruthfully. They sat down and ordered two coffees.

After a few sips of coffee, Lily and James had leaned over and were kissing when they heard smothered laughter, then the sound of a camera clicking. It immediately followed by James' cousin saying, "Sirius, what are you doing?"

James and Lily turned to see Sirius and Beth at a nearby table. Sirius was laughing. "I thought you weren't going to come here, Prongs!"

"Lily talked me into it just to see if this place was as horrible as it was described in the book," answered James sourly. "What are you doing here, Sirius?"

"I saw the two of you coming in here and talked Beth to go in also," replied Sirius.

"Actually, I wanted to come in, but Sirius said no until he saw the two of you come in," corrected Beth. "Sirius, why were you taking a picture of James and Lily with the camera I just gave you?"

"Just for the heck of it," said Sirius. "And so I can tease James forevermore for snogging Lily in Madam Puddifoot's, when he swore that he'd never set foot in here."

"I believe you also swore that you'd never set foot in here, either," pointed out James.

Beth shook her head. "Boys. Sirius, let's leave Lily and James alone. Besides, it's Valentine's Day, and you should be paying me _some_ attention at least. I wouldn't mind a good snogging session right now."

Sirius' attention being captured by Beth, James and Lily quietly paid for their coffees and left the tea house. As it wasn't eleven yet, they prowled through the rest of the Hogsmeade shops before heading over to the Three Broomsticks for lunch. Lunch turned out to be something of a disaster, for James was so nervous about making the day perfect that he spilled his butterbeer on Lily's robes, dropped his fork three times and his spoon twice, and spilled some soup on his robes. They scourgifed their robes, but the small mishaps made James ever more nervous.

During dessert, James dropped a forkful of chocolate cake on his robes. Then when Lily tried to feed him a bite of her cake, he accidentally knocked into her arm, causing the bite of cake to fall on her robes. Lily laughed it away and said, "Relax. They're only small mishaps and nothing to worry about."

"But I wanted our first Valentine's Day together to be perfect. But first I drop your gift and tear your dress, then make it even worse when I try to mend it. Then Sirius interrupts us at Madam Puddifoot's by taking our picture and teasing me about it, and now at lunch I become clumsy and drop and spill things!"

"Oh, as long as I'm with you, it's all right," smiled Lily. "And you can make up for it on our first Valentine's Day together after we're married."

James looked happier, but he was still nervous. The two then shared the box of chocolate, feeding each other. No mishaps occurred, except once when James dropped a piece of chocolate.

He took out a package from his pocket and handed it to Lily. "Here is your gift, my darling Lily. Happy Valentine's Day."

Lily opened it to find a pair of gold earrings with a while lily dangling from each. The lilies sparkled with tiny diamonds. "It's lovely, James!" cried Lily. "And it matches the necklace you gave me. Thank you, James! Help me put them on."

James grinned and picked up an earring. However, his hands shook and he dropped it. He and Lily bent down and had to spend three minutes searching for it. When Lily finally found it, one of the diamonds had fallen off. James repaired it and then tried again to help Lily put it on. This time he didn't drop it and then he helped Lily put on the other one.

The two then kissed, but had to stop when they heard Madam Rosmerta clear her throat next to them. "Do you want your check now?"

James nodded, tossed a few galleons on the table, said, "Keep the change," and then led Lily outside. They went back to Hogwarts, where they found an empty classroom and spent the rest of the afternoon talking and snogging, until Peeves came in on them at around four. They were snogging at the time and Peeves cackled, "Potty and the flower are in love and snogging! James and Lily, sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes-" James threw an eraser at Peeves and he and Lily then dashed out of the room.

"I hate Peeves!" snapped James. "Though I suppose I will eventually forgive him because he did annoy and torment that Umbridge toad in _Order of the Phoenix_."

"Yeah," said Lily. "Well, Valentine's Day isn't over yet. And I don't think Peeves is going to disturb us there." She pointed at a nearby broom closet. James grinned and they went inside the closet for an uninterrupted snogging session. When he went to bed that night, James reflected that Valentine's Day had been wonderful after all, even if it hadn't been completely perfect.


End file.
